Police-nippers



(No Model.) W. H. SHEAR.

PULIGB NIPPBRS. No. 303,953. Patented Aug. 19, 1884.

Us rrnn Sra-ins' Fastener @ri-sica.

YVILLIAllI H. SHEAR, OF MORRISON, ILLINOIS.

POLICE-NIPPERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 303,953l dated August19, 1884.

Application tiled March 14, 1834.

To all whom it 1n/tty concern:

Be it known that I, XVILLIAM H. Sirena, a citizen of the United States,residing at Morrison, in the county of Vhiteside and State of Illinois,haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Police-Nippers; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexaetdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention has reference to police-nippers, and pertains moreespecially to certain novel mechanism for clasping and holding suchnippers in. posit-ion.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my invention with the jawsopen. Fig. 2 is the same with the jaws closed. Fig. 3 is a riew of thesame in section taken on line .fc fr, Fig. 2.

A A are the jaws which inclose the wrist of the offender, and 'arepivoted at their inner ends, at d, in the end of the slide C. In theouter end oi' one of the jawsA is formed the recess a, which engages theouter end of the opposingjaw A, and thus the outer ends of both jaws A,when engaged, are held from lateral disjjalacement. 'The junction of thejaws A with the slide C forms their piv otal point for opening andclosing, being further regulated in reference thereto as hereinafterdescribed.

B is the handle, formed of the elliptic b, conveniently shaped forgrasping, and having arms c c pivoted, respectively, at c on the jaws A,outside of the pivotal point d of the latter. Thehandle B ismanufactured of good spring-steel, and acts as a spring upon the jaws Ato keep the same closed. However, the attachment of the arms o c,respectively, to the jaws Ais in such relation to the pivotal point d ofsuch jaws that when the jaws A are fully extended, as in Fig. l, thepivotal point d is slightly inside of a line drawn from cto c, andtherefore `the spring action of the handle B tends to hold the jaws A inthe extended position shown in Fig. l; but the closing of the jaws Amoves the pivotal point d (No model.)

toward the handle 'B and outside the line of the points e e, when thespring of the handle B, exerted through its arms c c, closes the jaws AA instantly and tends to hold the same in such closed position. But as aspring suffi ciently strong to hold the jaws A A closed un der allcircumstances would be too rigid for convenient use, and perhaps toosevereon the culprit, I have devised and added the following mechanismfor holding the jaws A A in position for use.

D D are plates placed transversely and opl posite to each other on thearms c o of the handle B by being seated in slight recesses in the edgesof such arms. The plates D are held in position by screws g g, which,passing between the arms c c and the slide C, connect the plates D D insuch way as to prevent their movement longitudinally in the armscc,while permitting such arms a free lateral movement in order to aproper control of the jaws A A. The slide C, connected to the pivotalpoint 1l of the jaws A A, extends outwardly between the plates D D, andis provided with a head, 72., at its outer extremity as a point ofengagement for the operators thumb. On the upper surface of the slide Cis formed the series of ratchet-s i' i, iitted to engage a spur or lip,k, on the inner face of one of the plates D D, when the jaws A A arepartially or wholly closed, and prevent the opening of the jaws A Auntil such ratchet is disengaged. The interval between the plates D D isslightly greater than the diameter oi' the slide C, so that a spring, Z,on the plate D opposite to the one having the spur it acting upon theslide G, forces the latter against the plate D having the spur It, andcauses the ratchets t' 'ai to engage such spur. In this condition thejaws A A are rigidly held from opening. Then it is desired to open thejaws A A, the operator, by placing his thumb on the head h ofthe slideG, forces the ratchets t' t' out of' engagement with the spur k, and bydirect forward pressure forces the jaws outwardly to the limit of theirextension. lVhen intended for use, the jaws A A are 'distended to thelimit oi' their outward action, as shown in Fig. l, in which positionsuch jaws are held by the spring-arms c c. The jaws thus extend ed areplaced upon the ofi'enders wrist, and by aslight pressure upon theoutside of such IOC jaws they are sprung together, as shown in Fig. 2,and encircle the wrist of the person arrested.

The advantages of my invention are numerous and obvious. -One veryimportant advantage over nippers heretofore used is that while in thecase of such others, (like the' l. The combination of the jaws A A,handle B, having arms c c, plates D D, spring Z, 'and slide C,substantially as shown, and for the purpose described.

2. 4The jaws A A, in combination with the handle B, having spring-arms cc, such jaws being pivoted together at one end7 and such spring-armsbeing so pivotally attached to such jaws, respectively, that the pivotalj unction of such jaws in the opening and closing of the latter passesbetween the pivotal ends of such arms, whereby the action of suchspring-arms is to hold such jaws either open or closed, as may bedesired, substantially as shown, and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM II. sHEAR.

NVitnesses:

XVALTER N. HAsIrELL, WILLIAM MANAHAN.

